Lincoln County News Editorial Board, In the June 15, 2023, edition of your weekly paper, you printed an editorial column regarding a recent vote by the Virtual Charter School Board.
You were clear in the article that you were against the recent vote to approve the St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Catholic Charter School application. In your explanation, you offered two erroneous points that I found to be myopic and false.
Your first concern was the mixing of state and church. In the last paragraph, you claim the contract would conflict with state law. The separation of church and state issue was never intended to keep the church out of the state but to keep the state out of the church. I do not know the state statutes you alluded to in the article, and I suspect you are dove-tailing from the quote you printed from the Attorney General. The error in your argument is twofold. First, you wrongly assume a religious organization cannot provide public education. Second, you assume that if a religious organization does provide education, it will contain ideologies and philosophies. You erroneously infer that public education is free from those influences and indoctrinations, and the Catholics will brainwash our children. Please remember it is not a matter of whether but which. It is not a matter of whether our children will be introduced and influenced toward ideologies and philosophies, either religious, secular, or other, but which ideologies and philosophies they will be introduced to. You would have demonstrated more integrity if you had warned against Catholic theology than beat the drum of separation while playing dumb on the godless ideologies that are bombarding students in statefunded public schools. Students in Oklahoma are being taught evolution, immorality, and idolatry; it is not a matter of whether but which.
Second, in the middle of your editorial, you state that private dollars should fund private education. You object that tax dollars would be used for private education. Then, toward the end of the editorial, you write that the charter school would be an online public school. If the proposed charter school is public, then it is not private. The tone of your article implies that the state will be sending tax dollars to pay for a private religious school, but the facts you present in the article contradict that. It appears words are being used to mislead the reader. According to your article, the proposed charter school would not be a closed student body like Heritage Hall, Cassidy, or St. Mary’s but would be administered by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Objecting to tax dollars given to a school that restricts enrollment or selects who can apply or enroll is a valid concern but not applicable to this situation. What is the difference between the Archdiocese administering the education versus the Wellston Public School Board? Your article implies that public funds will be directed toward closed-enrollment education. Your opposition to state funds being given to a privately run school is noted, but to twist the narrative to invent a boogeyman that doesn’t exist is dishonest and misleading.
I do not know the state statutes. I do not know the law like the Attorney General. I welcome and respect different ideas or opinions regarding education. But I am weary of the old tropes used as clubs by those unwilling to converse about real solutions but instead want to bully the other side into submission. Our public school system is broken and will remain dysfunctional as long as it is based upon godless standards and priorities. If you disagree with a Catholic church starting a virtual public school, fine. But at least be honest with why you are against it, and please don’t gaslight me with separation and tax dollars. Awaiting the Shout! - 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 Spence McConnell, Wellston